I don't really understand quite what happened, but it was apparently a mixture of Tao and Buddhist ceremony. Two men with a forked stick traced Chinese letters with a forked stick, another dictated them, a third who recorded them. These gave answers to people's questions.

That's traditional Chinese folk religion, not Buddhist. (Though the people who do it may be Buddhist, of course.) Which is to be expected when one asks to bless fengshui mirrors, motorbikes, or other such stuff. Often called "spirit writing".

I don't know what it's like in Thailand, but in the Philippines whether it's Taoist or Buddhist a Chinese Temple is considered a Chinese Temple, and the local Filipinos can't really tell the difference. This proved difficult when trying to tell our taxi driver he'd taken us to the wrong temple! All he said was "But this was is Chinese too!" (we got there in the end!)

Seishin wrote:I don't know what it's like in Thailand, but in the Philippines whether it's Taoist or Buddhist a Chinese Temple is considered a Chinese Temple, and the local Filipinos can't really tell the difference. This proved difficult when trying to tell our taxi driver he'd taken us to the wrong temple! All he said was "But this was is Chinese too!" (we got there in the end!)

In Thailand Chinese Temples have Buddhist images and vice versa. Every one accepts the other religions, there is a mix of Hinduism and other religions too.

The is a distinct Chinese community, though many have intermarried. My wife is half Thai and Chinese. So we find separate Chinese temples with their own folk culture.

Huifeng wrote:That's traditional Chinese folk religion, not Buddhist. (Though the people who do it may be Buddhist, of course.) Which is to be expected when one asks to bless fengshui mirrors, motorbikes, or other such stuff. Often called "spirit writing".